photosphotosphotosphotosphotosphotosphotosphotos
Madison and Wisconsin design cards, T shirts, crew sweat shirts, mugs, tote bags
Hand silk screened cards | Botanical photo cards | Christmas designs | Web design | Gardens

home button card page mug description page list of tiles ordering information graphics my garden tote bag designs for sale other items for sale
Vaughan and Roscoe

Madison • Wisconsin • UW • Wildflowers • Gardening
Look around this site to see how a life-long love of these is expressed in: photography • graphic arts • silk screen printing !

A bit more about my background . . .

At least a fifth generation Wisconsinite, I was born and raised in Madison and grew up loving this area - its landmarks, landscapes and its plants. My parents were both UW-Madison grads and I was practically raised on campus with fond memories of meals at the Memorial Union, Homecoming walks on Langdon Street and watching construction of many of the campus buildings.

I grew up with a love of gardening (passed on to me from my Dad) and have memories of spring wildflower walks and drives to see the native flora. Although the son of a music teacher dad and English and speech teacher mom, my interests in art and creativity were always encouraged by my parents - from the little silk screening kit they gave me when I was in junior high (wow! I could print things) through increasingly complex printing and design (including a different hand silk screened Christmas card each year for years!), trying out craft fairs and having shirts printed from my original designs to sell. (My Dad loved being a walking showcase for my shirts - wearing them almost all the time except for the most dressed up occasions). My career developed in plant science though, and I've spent many years studying vegetable disease control (especially potato diseases) but have continued to be very interested in graphic arts, photography and gardening. I spent eight years "in exile" in New York to complete grad school and working at my first job. When the chance presented itself to come back to live in Madison - near my family, in "my" part of the country, I could not resist.

My dad suffered a debilitating stroke in 1999 - he recovered an amazing amount for an 84-year-old man but remained in a wheel chair. After several months in a nursing home, I decided that was simply not the way for our family to live and proposed substantial remodeling of our beloved house - to improve handicap accessibility and provide room for me to move back with my parents to help care for them. We loved the results of the remodeling, but to my horror, the destruction of the existing lawn and plantings was much greater than I ever anticipated. What a great time to begin planning new gardens! I worked to install a paving block walk throughout the yard, to make it easy for wheelchair access, and began collecting and planting - starting with some of the favorite flowers I remembered my dad growing, and then collecting more, and more . . .

My Mom died in October of 2000 and my Dad at the end of April in 2007 - each able to live at home right up to the end and loving the gardens. I miss them tremendously but get great satisfaction from continuing to be in the house we loved and trying to have as much as I can blooming in the yard at all seasons it's possible to do so in Wisconsin. It is heart warming to have someone identify me with "the beautiful house with the beautiful flowers".

Now that the UW decided to retire me, I hope to spend more creative time – with graphic arts and gardens. A great deal of work and fun has gone in to the card and shirt designs and garden photos that you will see here. I hope you find things that appeal to you and that you enjoy the "tour" of my flower gardens.